Police Officer Involved Domestic Violence.
Lighting a candle of remembrance for those who've lost their lives to domestic violence behind the blue wall, for strength and wisdom to those still there, and a non-ending prayer for those who thought they had escaped but can't stop being afraid.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

SUSPENDED COP HAD HISTORY OF OUTBURSTSBristol PressMonday, December 6, 2010 10:43 PM EST

BRISTOL — The April 13 incident in which police officer Marc Blazejowski was charged with choking his pregnant fiancée at Disney World in Florida was not the first time his conduct had raised eyebrows within the department.

In an inter-office memo to Chief John DiVenere, Lt. Thomas Grimaldi said he “noticed some similarities between this investigation and one in 2006 that I was assigned and that involved Blazejowski and his girlfriend at the time.”

Grimaldi’s 2006 investigation said that Blazejowski’s girlfriend told police “he would have ‘fits of rage’ where he would destroy her personal belongings, throw her belongings across a room and threaten her.” The girlfriend also said that once, during an argument, he became irrational and started yelling at her. “She told him that he was scaring her and he responded ‘You think I’m a scary person? I’ll give you something to be afraid of!’ and then he threw her personal computer across the room, breaking it.”

Grimaldi noted that after the April incident, where Blazejowski is charged with choking his pregnant fiancée at Disney World, the fiancée told police she told Blazejowski “she couldn’t believe he did that. He responded by saying, ‘I’ll do worse!’”

The fiancée also said while in Florida, Blazejowski told her and her daughter to leave and threw her luggage in the hotel hallway. Then, while she was leaving, Blazejowski grabbed her by the arm to stop her. Grimaldi observed that this was similar to an incident with the girlfriend in 2006, when Blazejowski told her to leave the house they shared.

“She said that he was very mean to her and when she finally gathered her belongings to leave, Blazejowski then became nice to her and asked her not to leave,” Grimaldi said.

The former girlfriend described Blazejowski as “scary,” Grimaldi said. She changed her cell phone and home phone numbers and uses a post office box as her listed address to avoid contact with him.

Police got involved in one incident between Blazejowski and his girlfriend at the time. Grimaldi’s report noted that in April of 2006, police were called to their home, where Blazejowski had locked himself in a bathroom with a handgun and was making suicidal statements.

After the incident, Blazejowski was out on sick leave for 50 days. Upon returning he submitted medical clearance indicating he was able to return to duty.

That same year, Grimaldi said, Blazejowski said at work that he would have “no problem” shooting a certain co-worker. In a separate incident, he told another co-worker he “wanted to kill someone just to see how it feels.”

The 2006 investigation also refers to incidents where Blazejowski did “doughnuts” or “whole-shots” in front of the fire department, engaged in reckless driving, stalked his ex-girlfriend by sitting for hours at fire department headquarters where she worked and tried to start a fist fight with an off-duty firefighter. It also said that Blazejowski had a “well known deep hatred of the Bristol Fire Department” and referred to them as “a--holes” during a fire on Terryville Road. Two officers said Blazejowski had made suicidal statements and three said he made homicidal statements.

At the end of the 2006 investigation, Grimaldi said, “It would appear to the average reasonable person that Officer Blazejowski is not only immature, but that he harbors jealous feelings toward the firefighters who were working with his girlfriend.

“There are reports of him sitting in the fire department parking lot all night long so that he can ‘keep an eye on her.’ There are reports of him circling the city block on his motorcycle all night long while he is off duty and she is working. The fire department refers to this as the West End 500.”

He added that Blazejowski “has now escalated his actions to threats of deadly violence while at work, which is direct violation of the City’s Workplace Violence Policy. … This obvious escalation of hostility should not be taken lightly, particularly due to the fact that he is given a department-issued weapon.” He recommended Blazejowski undergo “a chief’s hearing to determine possible discipline and/or fitness for duty evaluation.”

Blazejowski received a five-day suspension as a result of the investigation.

In May, Grimaldi asked Blazejowski about the Disney World incident of April 13 and allowed Blazejowski to submit a written statement. He said during an argument in their hotel room, he told his fiancée he wanted to break their engagement. She got upset. At one point she swung her arms at him and a moment later said she was going to hit him, but did not.

“She never hit me nor did I make contact with her,” he said. “I never choked her. I do not agree with the charges against me. I am maintaining my innocence.”

However, Deputy Michael Perrin of the Orange County Sheriff’s office said Blazejowski’s fiancée told him Blazejowski “began choking her with both of his hands for a few seconds, releasing his grip when he saw people approaching.” The incident happened in the hotel’s hallway.

In October, Grimaldi obtained photos the police took of the fiancée after the incident.

He said there were four slight red marks on her neck that were “consistent to that of four fingers.” There was also a red mark below and behind her right ear and a small red area under the left jaw line consistent with where the tip of a finger and a thumb “would be if someone grabbed another’s neck in a choking manner.” The department has a zero tolerance policy of domestic violence.

Blazejowski has been suspended for 60 days and will undergo a fitness for duty evaluation before returning to duty. He has also agreed to resign if he is convicted or accepts a plea for the Disney World incident.

In exchange, the city will allow him to return to work, according to an agreement signed Nov. 15 by Personnel Director Diane Ferguson, the police union, Blazejowski and Mayor Art Ward.

COMMENT EXCERPTS:

...With this psychotic behavior the officer should be fit for a straight jacket not active duty and given a gun. He gives a bad name for all officers on the Bristol police force and they should realize this instead of trying to protect there own...

...If I made the statement that I “wanted to kill someone just to see how it feels” when applying for a pistol permit in this town, does anyone think it would have been granted? Yet here we just might possible have a rogue cop in our midst. This screams of mental issues. Diane and the Union should be personally held responsible for this guys future actions...

...Save all these reports on him so when he flips and kills someone he goes to jail for life...

...Is this some sort of sick joke? This officer should have been arrested, fired and forced to pay restitution for his part in making this woman's life a living hell...

...AND HE CARRIES A BADGE AND GUN AND REPRESENTS BRISTOL... WHY ??? OH YEA HE'S IN THE UNION!... CHIEF : GET WITH IT OR GET OUT....

...and this maniac has merely been "suspended" from the Bristol PD ???God help us all!...

...this man should not be on the police force. just makes bristol look bad...

...Its not even safe to be a cop within the four walls of the Dept...

...When Unions get too strong,the hands of the Chief and City officials become tied, inundated with threats of lawsuit after lawsuits. After all, it's the single primary job of the Unions to protect its members ('Union Brothers')...

...When he does lose it..and by all acounts, he will..it is not he that should go to jail but rather those who allowed him to return to work...

...Diane Ferguson is an a-hole for signing an agreement for him to return to work. Maybe he threatened her as well. Nothing will surprise me with this loose cannon...

...Sounds like Blazejowski and Mosback have more than one thing in common, except Mosback never got caught...

...FERGUSON allows this behavior because her and the chief have a problem and they dont want it to come out. These two have covered up so much but its coming out soon. The chief should have been fired years ago when he had affair with person under 18. Bristol rewards him and makes him chief so people wonder why theres no leadership in bristol...